He had blond hair that caught the glowing orb’s light spectacularly, throwing off shades of gold and brass as he moved. Thick of jaw and cheek, he was very attractive in a masculine way, but it wasn’t anything like what peeks I’d gotten of Caz, who as far as I could tell wasgorgeousunder the cloak that somehow remained in place.
Stop it.
“Ri,” Caz said, addressing the other shifter, who nodded respectfully. “I need you to go back to the market. Shut it down. Round up every prisoner.”
The other man nodded sharply, his blue eyes tracking Caz with a focus that went beyond mere respect. “Of course. You want them imprisoned elsewhere?”
Caz shook his head. “No. I want them brought here.”
Ri’s eyebrows rose. “Here. All of them?”
“Yes. Every prisoner. Treat them well, ensure they are fed, whatever they need.”
“It shall be done. I’ll take Kolar’s squad. They’re already out training below.” Ri glanced at me and then back at Caz, who instinctively had swayed a few inches closer to me, blocking Ri’s path. “And the hunters?”
Caz grunted. “You know my feelings on them if they get in the way.”
Ri’s eyes positively glowed bright silvery-white from his dragon.
“There are too many of them,” I interjected with a protest, not wanting to see him hurt. Did he have any idea how many hunters were there? He was one man.
“I’ll be fine, miss, I promise,” he said gently, his eyes landing on me.
Something rumbled in the back of Caz’s throat, and he stepped fully in front of me, blocking the view.
“Enough,” I said, shoving Caz to the side. “You said I’m safe. Act like it.”
The other man coughed into his hand abruptly but not so quick I didn’t catch the quirk of his lips. “By your leave then,” he said to Caz and dove off the balcony without another word.
I ran to the edge, terrified, only to see him soaring away, thick white wings sprouting from beneath his shoulders to carry him smoothly to the ground below.
“Wow,” I whispered, watching the smoothness and ease with which this Ri shifted again as he landed, his wings disappearing as he walked.
I vaguely knew of the strength and the confidence in one’s ability it took to do such a thing, and he had done it like it was normal. I had seen dragon shifters take a full minute to assume their beast form. Stronger ones could do it smoother and faster but nothing like what I’d witnessed with Caz at the market or Ri just now.
Whowerethese people? What the hell had I gotten myself into.
“I told you,” Caz said as he stepped up slightly behind and beside me. “Everything will be okay now.”
I shifted to the left, keeping a gap between us. Even this close was too much. My first thoughtswere how the balcony wall was the perfect height for him to bend me over. That if I just pushed my hips a little, they would thrust my rear out at him, giving Caz a sight he would be hard-pressed to resist.
“You haven’t found them yet,” I said, fighting against the urge to present myself to him. To my mate. Inside, my dragon was howling, mad with desire to let him mount us and claim us as his own.
Not happening. So cool it.
She pouted, angry and petulant, like a child. Which made perfect sense. She’d awoken yesterday. It was going to take time for us to learn to coexist.
Caz’s eyes glowed bright green as his dragon pressed forward. When he spoke, his words were a promise, a vow he made to me. “But I will.”
“How can you be so sure of yourself?” I asked, still not looking over at him. Doing so would open me up to his eyes. Those damnable green eyes that locked on to me and never flicked away.
And I hated how much I wanted that, how my body soaked up his undivided attention. I didn’t want to preen for him. I wouldnotpreen for him.
“Because I always get what I want,” he grunted, sounding not at all like a braggart but rather … irritated.
Well, I could help with that. Because he wasnotgetting me after leaving me to rot in themarketplace.
Not for my dragon or my body’s lack of want, though. They most certainlydidwant to be gotten. To be pinned down onto the bed, unable to move as he lowered his powerfully muscled body onto us, one hand holding our wrists above our head. The other touching … torturing.
